The goal of this paper is to assist luminaire purchasers and specifiers in clearly stating their requirements and reducing confusion surrounding some of the most popular high-performance programs and their overlaps, or lack thereof. The table provided in the paper illustrates the luminaire types covered by ENERGY STAR® Luminaires, DesignLights Consortium® (DLC), and Federal Energy Management Program (FEMP) guidelines, and notes where overlaps occur.

It is a common requirement or request during product procurement that the devices in question be high-efficiency. This is common to utility-driven rebate programs, federal procurement, state and local procurement, store/company requirements, or simple preference. NEMA and its members strongly support high-performance programs, whether they are private programs like the DLC, federally-managed programs like the Environmental Protection Agency’s ENERGY STAR, or industry-managed programs like NEMA Premium®. Confusion regarding the aforementioned high-performance program’s scopes and requirements all too often results in specifiers demanding products be affiliated with more than one program, where no overlap occurs, or to specify program participation and performance levels which are conflictory.

NEMA is the association of electrical equipment and medical imaging manufacturers, founded in 1926 and headquartered in Rosslyn, Virginia. Nearly 400 members strong, its companies manufacture a diverse set of products including power transmission and distribution equipment, lighting systems, factory automation and control systems, and medical diagnostic imaging systems. Total U.S. shipments for electroindustry products exceed $100 billion annually.